Govt to issue rules on partnerships

JAKARTA (JP): The government has decided to move ahead with its plan to require large companies to form partnerships with small and medium companies and cooperatives, a minister said yesterday.

The Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution, Hartarto, said President Soeharto had ordered the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises and related agencies to prepare a regulation to encourage the partnerships.

"The ministry and related agencies are working on the criteria for the obligation of large companies to help small businesses," Hartarto said after a cabinet meeting on poverty alleviation.

He quoted Soeharto, who chaired yesterday's meeting, as saying partnerships were needed to boost the country's economy, Antara reported.

The government has been promoting linkages between large and small firms as part of its poverty alleviation policy.

Last year, Soeharto launched the Jimbaran Group, a gathering of 41 tycoons, which aims to develop programs to help small businesses.

Analysts criticized the partnership program as being ineffective at alleviating poverty, because it relied too much on big companies.

At yesterday's meeting which lasted over three hours, Hartarto said the President had also ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Cooperatives to transfer the ownership of the government-owned fish auction place to a cooperative.

"Agriculture minister Sjarifudin Baharsjah told the president that it was important that the fish auction was managed by a cooperative," he said.

The meeting, held every three months, is the second meeting on the poverty alleviation program. (das)